Plants That Merit Attention: Trees [Hardcover]

Horticultural Committee of the Garden Club of America (Author), Janet Meakin Poor (Author), Nancy Peterson Brewster (Author)

Book Description

Series: Plants That Merit Attention | Publication Date: January 1, 1985

This magnificent reference provides excellent descriptions and color photos of hundreds of unusual woody plants that are beautiful, pest- and disease-resistant and tolerant of a variety of environments, yet are not often found at garden centers. Each selection features at least one photograph, plus cultivation and landscape information and a list of gardens or parks in the United States and Europe where the plants can be seen.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Sponsored by the Garden Club of America to encourage horticultural diversity through the planting of less familiar but noteworthy plants, these extensively cross-referenced volumes present wonderful profiles of the best garden trees and shrubs. Each entry contains at least two color photos, a physical description, culture, landscape value, and a list of the public gardens where the plant can be observed. The appendixes are very useful, especially the listing of nurseries from which each specimen can be obtained.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

[With "Plants That Merit Attention Vol II, "] It is easy to say these books set the current standard for excellence in horticultural reference books. The crystal clear photographs and clean, uncluttered layout make these not only a joy to use, but also very valuable for showing to clients.... It's a real pleasure working with books that I can recommend so whole heartedly. 'Must haves' for any serious reference shelf. -- Evelyn Wolf "Ontario Arborist" (02/01/2000)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 349 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press (January 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0917304756
• ISBN-13: 978-0917304750
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,059,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique book of rarely seen trees with unique information, October 24, 1999

By 

Angel Lee "Liocorno Amethyst Moonstone" (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Plants That Merit Attention: Trees (Hardcover)

I am very impressed with this unique book of rarely seen trees that will add interest to any garden. The book starts with a glossary of botanical terms with b/w illustrations of the anatomy of leaves, flowers, fruits & conifers.

Information includes botanical name, common name, zone, native habitat & date introduced. There is a general description of size, spread, & shape as well as descriptions of leaves, flowers, & fruit.

Culture, including soil quality, ideal sunlight, & disease tolerance, as well as transplanting & propagation advice are included also. Three clear photos include the full-size tree & two others show close-ups of leaves, flowers or trunk.

It also gives information on winter appearance & landscaping value. Even gardens where the trees can be seen are listed. I really appreciated this type of information. It is so rarely seen in most reference book.

The appendices are extremely helpful they list botanical gardens & nurseries. A source for each species can easily be found. Trees are also listed by characteristics. Some include zone, light requirements, soil conditions, resistance, color of bloom & fragrance.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok, but would merit further attention, January 14, 2003

By 

P. van Rijckevorsel (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Plants That Merit Attention: Trees (Hardcover)

The first thing to strike the eye when taking this book to hand is the full color and the beautiful glossy paper (no expense spared at the printer's!). The second thing to be noticed is the lay-out which is only just short of crummy (looks as if this was farmed out to India or the like). It looks pretty silly to have beautiful color pictures printed on expensive glossy paper and then having to look hard to make out the details. Without extra expense or effort the pictures could have been printed 25 to 50% bigger and this would have made the book twice as valuable. The quality of these pictures varies. There are some really great pictures here while others are ... mediocre.

The text was written by a committee and it looks it. This makes for easy comparison and reference, but for an uninspiring read. This fact distinctly decreases its value as a coffee-table book or as an object for delicious browsing. I am hoping the contents of the text are allright (I only browsed through it, but did spot some errors)

The botanical names appear mostly in order (I noticed only a few slips), which is not always so in horticultural books. Still these look a little silly because of the lay-out. Pity. Also the age of the book means that recent name changes have not been incorporated (I assume the reader will compensate for this).

I guess this is an OK book, that will look decent on the bookshelf, but that falls well short of what it could be.